Kingdom Hearts: The Other Story
by NemesisSP
Summary: As the Heartless continue their assault on the Realm of Light, a secret organization has been formed to try and help combat them. Three cadets will soon embark on a journey to try and save the worlds and stop Maleficent's reign of terror.
1. The Starting Point

_Kingdom Hearts_

 _The Other Story_

 **Chapter 1: The Starting Point**

The small world of Traverse Town was a world of sanctuary. A town for those who had lost their home. It's old fashioned buildings and eternal night sky was strange, but the timeless feel of the world made it a good safe house for its lost inhabitants. It was very quiet tonight and was that way most nights, there was one problem with it.

And that was the Heartless. Beings seemingly without hearts, creatures of the darkness and pure evil as were clear by their very existence and intentions. The citizens of Traverse Town did their best to avoid them, and usually stayed in their homes unless they had to go out. Thankfully, they only came out during certain periods of time and when that happened, everyone in the town knew and took the appropriate steps to avoid trouble. Only a few of the townsfolk were brave enough to fight any of them whenever an attack took place.

In the Third District of Traverse Town, several individuals were doing just that. Breaking the quiet of the night with their fighting, but doing so only for the protection of the citizens who dwelled there. A small black creature with yellow eyes, designated as a Shadow, tried to scurry away as a blast of fire struck it and it disintegrated. A young woman, probably no older than 15, with black hair and a dark blue school uniform of some kind, approached the spot where it had been only seconds ago.

"Got another Shadow over here!" she said to her companions. Clutched to her chest a white doll with a big red nose and a pom-pom coming out of its head. She had been using it to channel her magic through.

"Good," said a brown haired teenager with dark blue eyes. He too wore a dark blue school uniform and was wielding a weapon known as a gunblade, which came in two varieties. One was a gun attached to the blade that, when the trigger was pulled, sent vibrations through the blade that could increase the deadliness of the attack. The kind he had a mechanism that switches between a gun and a sword mode. He swung the weapon in its sword mode at two Heartless that jumped at him. These were only slightly bigger than the shadows, were of a dark brown color and had armored helmeted heads that still exposed their blank black faces and yellow eyes. There was a large insignia on its chest and it had dark claws on its hands. "Got two Soldiers for me." He said as he sliced one in half, followed quickly by the other.

"Ha! I got three Large Bodies!" their other friend said; as he quickly kicked one into an exposed electrical plug. He had blond hair that he had spiked up in the front, with mostly blue and red clothing on. He didn't have a weapon like his friends, he fought entirely with his fists and feet. "They should really fix this place up, don't ya think?"

"I agree, Zell." The gunblade wielding teenager said, slicing through a down more Heartless. As another came at him however, the gunblade quickly changed into a gun that he shot the Heartless with. "What's our count, Lulu?"

The young woman shot off more blasts of fire. "I'd say about forty each." She said. "Which would be about one hundred and twelve in total? Looks like we're all cleared, Omega."

"Good, then we should wrap up soon." Omega said, blocking a Heartless' claws from striking him. "Just a few more to go, I think." He said as he stabbed through it.

It took them a few more moments to clear up the rest of the Heartless, but by the time they were done, the whole of the District, as well as the second had been cleared.

"Whew, that was a long one." Omega said, wiping his arm across his forehead and placing his gunblade in its holster.

"I think we did pretty well, though." Zell said as he punched the air above his head. "The citizens of this town don't have to worry while I'm here!"

"What about when you sleep?" Lulu asked with a hint of sarcasm in her voice.

"SO, let's go report back and grab something to eat!" Zell said, completely ignoring his friends comment. "What are you guys up for? I'm paying this time."

"That Ratatouille place looked good." Omega commented.

"Something within my price range, please!" Zell replied, though he was laughing a little. Indeed, as they left they were laughing, acting as though everything was normal. And this was their idea of normal, so it didn't seem out of place for them at all.

It was an hour after they had finished their report, and now they were sitting in the small diner in First District.

"Did you guys see the look on Rusty's face in the debriefing?" Zell asked, chuckling lightly. "It was priceless!"

"Yeah, being told that three punks did better fighting Heartless in one night than you have in nine years tends to do that." Lulu said, trying to remain stoic. She started laughing as well after a few seconds. "And yes, it really was."

"And it came from Instructor Trepe, too." Omega commented. "So it had to sting." All three of them had been sitting there, laughing away and driving several of the other people who came by insane. But they didn't care, they hadn't been able to go out at all for a while, and so it felt good to just hang out and not worry about Heartless or anything related to them.

"This was a pretty good place." Omega noted. "We'll have to come again at some point?"

"I completely agree with that." Zell said, raising his glass as if to toast his friend before taking another swig from it.

"I agree." Lulu said as well. "As long as Zell pays again." She quickly added, causing Zell to spit out his drink at the suggestion.

A waiter walked up to them. "Is that all for this evening?" Zell nodded and the waiter handed him a bill.

"Yikes, that really was expensive." Zell said, grimacing a little.

"Sure you have enough munny, Zell? I can pay for half, if you want."

"Nah, I'm good, bud." Zell said, pulling out some munny and handing it to the waiter. "You guys ready to turn in?"

"No, not really." Omega said, getting up. "But we probably should."

"Good to know." Zell said, getting up as well. Lulu simply nodded as she got up.

"HEY! STOP THAT THING!" someone called out. The three of them looked just in time to see something rush past them. It looked blue, but they couldn't make out what it was.

"What is that, a dog?" Omega asked.

"Don't know." Zell said.

The man who yelled out ran up to them, looking very angry. "Why didn't you stop that that monster?!"

"Why would we? Didn't look like it was doing anything wrong." Omega said.

"Wasn't doing anything wrong, it was stealing food from my store!" the man said.

"What was it?" Lulu interjected.

"I don't know, but what about my food?!" The man said, obviously seething with anger. He began to move to where whatever it was had run to, only to be stopped when Omega grabbed him by the arm.

"I wouldn't do that if I were you." Omega said. "The Heartless might not be completely gone. A few stragglers could be lurking around that corner, for instance." The man's face automatically filled with fear, and he retreated back in the direction that he had come from

"Your people skills are as impressive as usual." Lulu said as she walked past Omega.

"Well, I'm not going to let some idiot go and get themselves killed." Omega replied, as he followed after her. "It's already hard enough keeping the Heartless at bay as it is without people like him giving them more to add to their numbers." Zell chuckled as he walked past.

"Admit it." Zell said, now walking alongside Omega. "You just didn't want whatever that thing was to starve."

"Not really." Omega said in a neutral kind of tone, but gave Zell a friendly offhand punch to the arm. He suddenly stopped though. He wasn't sure, but it felt like someone was watching him, perhaps that creature that had run off. He turned around to look, but there was no one there. Thinking that it was probably just his imagination, he quickly hurried off after his friends.

* * *

It was always night in Traverse Town, so it was often difficult for many to get used to it, especially when it comes to the time. Omega was used to it though, having lived here for so long. It was actually very early in the morning, and Omega and the others were walking around the First District. They were supposed to be meeting their Instructor, who had said to meet her at the entrance to the Second District. Omega, Lulu and Zell were part of the SeeD Program, a type of mercenary group, although it was originally a program more akin to Special Forces. After the Heartless started attacking nine years ago, the world that SeeD was originally set in was lost, and it was retooled into an Anti-Heartless mercenary group by an important world, although what world that was, it was a Level 9 secret, and since Cadets like Omega and his friends were only Level 1 holders, they were not in on it. Today, SeeD consisted of over two hundred members, with almost twenty worlds that they were stationed at.

Quistis Trepe was a woman who looked to be in her early twenties, but carried herself as though she was older than that. She was not the strictest Instructor, and because of this, she was also among the most popular. She was wearing her regular clothes today, instead of her uniform. Her blond hair was still done up in the style she usually had it in, with it tied up in back, while two long fringes at her sides that framed her face.

"Alright, you three." She said as they approached. "Today will be a major Field Exam. One that has been carefully decided ever since the previous night"

Omega, Lulu and Zell stood at attention and did not state anything. It would be disrespectful to interrupt with something that did not have relevance to the subject.

"Your performance yesterday was incredible, and we decided that you were ready for the Exam." Instructor Trepe continued. "We have just received word that one of our training worlds, Codenamed "Specter" to be precise, has come under attack by a large force of Heartless."

This information came as no real surprise. After all, "Specter" was a world that was filled with Darkness, which made it a perfect place to start off SeeD training. Omega and his friends had once gone there and had found it to be a slightly unpleasant place.

"Since most of the more experienced members are off world, they need back up. A team from each of our training worlds will be sent to Specter to help stop the Heartless." She said. "You three are to depart Traverse Town and head to Specter to help with the defense. This is an important mission; we cannot allow Specter to fall to the Heartless. Do you all understand?"

"Yes ma'am!"

"Good. You have three hours to departure." Instructor Trepe said. She looked all three of them in the face, and gave them a kind smile. "Good luck. Dismissed!"

Omega, Lulu and Zell saluted, which the Instructor did as well before leaving. The three of them waited until she was out of sight before they started talking.

"Great, we finally get a real mission!" Zell said, grinning broadly. "Told you guys that they would!"

"Yeah, it would appear you were right." Lulu said. "But I'm not sure going back to Specter is a good thing."

"Of course it isn't." Zell said. "It's a horrible place yeah, but soon, we'll be real SeeD members, and get real missions, that don't involve Specter at all!"

"Yeah, all we need to do is finish this mission." Omega said. "We can't afford to screw up. Who knows when we'll be eligible for the next Exam?"

Lulu looked thoughtful for a moment before looking up at the other two. "You're right. I say we go and prepare for the mission before we leave." She said. She took a quick glance at the two of them. "I'll handle the preparations; I'll meet you two at Cid's later." And with that, she walked off. Omega and Zell.

Zell turned to him. "I'm going to go over to Cid's right now, and get the ship ready. What are you going to do?"

"Well, I'm sure Lulu will be doing the supplying, I'm not sure. I guess I can always go info surfing." Omega commented casually, but at the same time he started looking around.

"Think she'll have any idea of what's happening in Specter?" Zell asked, doing the same.

"Hard to say, but since she's Level 4, she could." Omega replied. "Though, some information is better than nothing. Walking into a battlefield without knowing anything will just get us killed."

"Okay, but you be careful." Zell said having made sure no one was listening to them. "She'll get in really big trouble if the higher ups find out she's been giving us top secret info that we aren't allowed."

"I know." Omega replied. "I'll see you later."

"See ya."

* * *

Omega stood outside the door, hoping that he wouldn't be here long. The place always gave him the creeps. The door opened after a few minutes.

"Okay, come back next week just in case." A young woman's voice said, as another SeeD cadet walked out the door. A young woman in a white suit, with shoulder length black hair, appeared as well. "Remember, no strenuous activities until you recover."

"Hello Aki" Omega said, stepping forward.

The doctor looked at him. "Oh, hey Omega, come on in."

Omega did so. "How's life as a doctor going?"

"Oh fine, just fine." Aki said. She had a worried expression on her face, which slightly worried Omega. "

"I see."

"So, how can I help you today, my friend?" Aki said, sitting down.

"I'm just here to tell you that we're going to be heading off in a few hours." Omega replied. "To Specter."

"Oh, so you guys are the ones going?" Aki said, sitting up in her seat.

Omega nodded. "Yeah. I wasn't given much info on it, though."

"I know, we haven't either." Aki said. "Dr. Kadowaki was sent off earlier without much of a briefing as to why."

"Why weren't you called in too?" Omega asked.

"Don't know, but I'm worried. Dr. Kadowaki always keeps me filled on what is going on when she can. So this must be something very serious."

"Yeah, I know." Omega agreed. "But you've got to know something, like what happened?"

"All I know is that there was some kind of incident." Aki said. "Apparently, a couple of cadets stumbled upon something. Something that put them both in serious intensive care, and had something to do with the first wave of the Heartless attack! And whatever it was has been classified a Level 10 secret."

Omega looked at Aki in shock. Level 10 was the highest level of security that SeeD had. Only a select few were even _at_ Level 10 clearance, and if that was the case, Omega knew he wasn't going to be getting anything more from this. He just stood there silently, folding his arms in thought.

"I'm sorry, but that's all I know." Aki said.

"It's okay. Thanks anyway." Omega replied, heading for the door.

"No problem." Aki said. "Hey!" Omega turned to look at her. "Good luck."

"Thanks." Omega said, and he left afterwards. He wasn't sure what to think about what he had just heard. Whatever happened in Specter was definitely worse than Instructor Trepe had let on, but he still had no idea what had caused it. And it looked like he wasn't going to, if it was a Level 10 secret.

It was right as he was at the door to the First District that he heard it.

 _They need your help…._

Omega stopped when he heard that and looked around. "Hello? Anyone there?!"

Nothing. Omega was confused, but shrugged a little. It had probably been his imagination. He went through the door and headed towards Cid's shop when he heard it again.

 _But you are not ready…_

"What?" Omega said, coming to a stop again. He didn't know why he had said that, or why he was hearing these voices. All he knew was that it wasn't making him feel comfortable.

Trying to shake off his unease, he didn't realize that he wasn't alone anymore. "Are you alright?" Omega turned to look at who had spoken and saw a girl wearing a blue jacket and black jeans staring at him in concern. He knew her, her name was Iris and she was a SeeD cadet, just like he was. She had put red highlights in her brown hair since the last time he had seen her, however, which he thought made her look very pretty.

"Oh, yeah. I'm fine." Omega lied. "No need to worry about me. I'm just peachy over here." He continued, trying to sound as cheerful as possible, though Iris just chuckled. Though he never really got a chance to hang out with her because they were on separate teams, every time he did, a kind of fluttering feeling appeared in his stomach that he wasn't sure he like. Or disliked, for that matter.

"Alright then." Iris replied, smiling slightly. "It's been awhile, Omega." The feeling intensified, but he ignored it.

"It really has, Iris." Omega said, giving her a small smile as well. "How has it been?"

"Oh, you know the usual stuff." Iris replied. "Just the patrolling of the town and all its districts, killing any Heartless that pops up. You?"

"Pretty much the same." Omega said. "Though, on some nice occasions I get to meet up with old friends that I haven't talked to in awhile." His blue eyes met her green eyes for a moment before they both started laughing.

"Yeah, I miss it too." Iris said and for a moment Omega thought he saw a brief blush appear on her face. "Hey, how about after this mission we hang out more?"

That fluttering feeling started to grow again and his heart started pounding with it. "Sounds cool, though I'm guessing it might still be a while." Omega replied, trying to pretend like nothing was wrong with him.

"Probably, but I'm sure we can make it work." Iris said as she started walking past him. "See you soon, alright?"

"You definitely will!" Omega said, smiling again. She returned it and walked away, that fluttering feeling becoming almost unbearable now until see left. He felt happy though, and he hoped that nothing would get him down. But then he heard it again….

 _You must be ready…Or darkness will conquer everything._

Before Omega could say or do anything, the world went pitch black, and it felt like he was falling.

 **To be continued….**


	2. Dive Into The Heart

**Kingdom Hearts: The Other Story**

 **Chapter 2: Dive Into The Heart**

Traverse Town was quiet at the moment, with hardly anyone outside of their residences. And if they came out, they'd hurry with what they were doing so they could return home. It had been that way ever since Iris had gotten here so many months ago. She and her team had been sent her as part of an extended field training. To get used to the possibility that they would have to be in any one world for any length at a time.

It was a time that was soon to be coming to an end, Iris knew. It was almost time to move on to a new world, their first world where they'd be sent on their own. Without instructors to guide them, as a test to see if they could handle it. If they could, it would open up a variety of possibilities for them. Places that were far more interesting than Traverse Town.

Iris opened the door to the apartment that she and her squad were living in. She went over to the first room on the right and knocked. "Alright, I just finished surveying the First and Second Districts. How's coming along here.

"Excellent. Just working on a report." A teenage boy's voice answered. "The doors unlocked if you want to check."

"I think I'll pass, Hope." Iris said as she walked away, but stopped briefly. "You already make food?"

"No, I just had Irvine go out to get some pizza." Hope replied, the door opening as he does. He was a silver haired boy of about fourteen. He was wearing an orange and yellow jacket, with black gloves and green pants and shoes. He also wore a green neckerchief and was a few inches shorter than Iris "He was driving me a little crazy, actually."

Iris smirked a bit at that. Hope was probably the smartest of the group, but he also tended to get annoyed fairly easily.

"He does tend to do that." Iris said as she went and got them some drinks. "What are you reporting on?"

"I was updating my database on secret passages and caverns around the town." Hope said as he accepted the drink. "There are quite a lot more than we expected. I have a few theories that I think you-"

"I hope you haven't eaten yet!" A calm, suave voice called from the entrance way. Tall and dressed in long brown coat with a black cowboy hat on his head, stood Irvine, one hand holding two boxes of pizza and the other flourishing around in the air. "For I have brought dinner!"

"So we can see." Iris said, though she stifled a chuckle. "You have good timing, we just mentioned you."

"About what a reliably handsome fellow I am?" Irvine said as he winked.

"More like what a slacker you are." Iris cheerfully said as she very quickly but still careful took the boxes from Irvine, who looked like he was about to prat fall.

"I'm wounded, I do my part!" Irvine replied.

Hope crossed his arms. "Only if you can't get away with it." He said dryly. Iris shook her head in mock exasperation as she got some plates to use.

"Hey, I brought the food, so you can't complain." Irvine shrugged as he grabbed himself a slice and went to sit down on the couch.

"Oh, I'm sure we could find ways, cowboy." Iris said as she sat down as well and took a bite. "Still, you aren't completely useless."

"I take that as a compliment, my dear Iris." Irvine said. "And might I say that you are looking lovely today."

"Save it, it's not going to happen." Hope replied as he sat down as well. "How many times do you have to be turned down before you quit it?"

I don't know what you're talking about!" Irvine shrugged. "You think so little of me."

"Besides, we all know who Iris likes." Hope said as he cracked a smile and looked at her. "I have it on good authority that his group is here too."

"You don't know anything about who I like." Iris says and the playfully bumped her arm against Hope's. "After all, we all know I only have eyes for you."

Hope almost spit out his drink, but he managed to hold it in. "T-that's not funny! Not at all!" Hope stuttered as he rubbed his hand against his nose, presumably trying to hide a light shade of pink from showing up on his cheeks. This prompted laughter from both Iris and Irvine, followed shortly by Hope himself.

"And I already know they're here." Iris told them.

"Oh, how's that?" Irvine asked.

"I happened to run into Omega, of course." Iris said. "Just a few minutes before I headed back here."

"And how was he?" Hope asked, a slight smile back on his face.

"He honestly seemed to be doing well." Iris said before taking another bite.

* * *

Omega fell for what felt like forever. He had closed his eyes the moment he had started to, though he didn't know exactly why. His fall slowly felt like it was losing momentum, and soon enough, it felt more like he was slowly drifting down to the bottom of this dark place. He slowly turned over and reopened his eyes. His feet touch solid ground and he looked around

It felt familiar for some reason, although he could not quite place it.

He stood on some kind of platform, which glowed a bright white as he looked down to inspect it. This place was strange, alien and yet somehow familiar. Omega couldn't quite place it, but he felt a strange sensation concerning this place. He stepped forward, and had to cover his eyes as a bright flash came from the platform, almost blinding him. Omega opened his eyes slowly when the light faded and was very shocked by what he saw.

The black area was now covered in a glass portrait. The glass work showed him, asleep and peaceful looking. Next to him, in circular frames were Lulu and Zell's faces, though they were awake, and next to them were three crown shaped symbols that he was sure he had never seen before. They were all in a large frame of their own, and that was framed by Omega's slightly curled body. On the bottom was what looked like a town, with a castle in it, perhaps? The town was another thing that was familiar, but once again, Omega couldn't tell why from how abstract the image was. More crown symbols surrounded them and except for Omega and the town, all of them were a dark blue color, with some lighter shades of the color for the crown symbols and his friends' faces.

Omega did not have time to wonder about the meaning of the glass painting, as at that moment the voice he had heard before started talking.

 _The Darkness is growing…._

Omega thought the voice sounded vague with that. "I know. The worlds are under assault by the Heartless. So that's why, because they just keep coming."

 _You are needed for when the Darkness comes. Take up your weapon and help maintain the balance._

"What?"

A sword, staff and shield appeared before him. He didn't know what was going on, but he moved to the sword on instinct without even looking at the other two items that had appeared. He grabbed the sword and looked it over carefully. The handle was blue, while the pommel was yellow. The hilt of the sword was also yellow and there was an insignia that looked very familiar on it. He had seen it before, but like everything else about this place he couldn't quite place it. He looked and saw the other weapons disappearing.

 _Be careful…_

Omega looked behind him just in time to see a Shadow Heartless try to attack him. He jumped out of the way and slashed at it. It bursts into a black cloud and floated away, while more Shadows began to materialize as well. They tried attacking Omega from all around, but he dodged and jumped of them, slashing when he landed. It didn't take long to clear them out. He looked at the sword for a moment.

A pathway appeared and led from this station on to the next. Omega ran up the steps and saw the exact same portrait as the other platform, only a green this time instead of blue. Omega looked around the image on the platform again. He didn't understand what this place was, or why he was here. Or why he had the strange feeling that he had been here before.

 _What do you value most?_

Omega folded his arms at the question. He was very sure what he valued most. "Lulu and Zell are the only thing I ever had. What could be more important than them?"

 _Do you want the power to protect them?_

"I do." Omega said. "Of course I do, more than anything!"

 _Walk through the door, and awaken that power_

A door appeared at the other end of the platform. Omega hesitated for a moment, but approached the door. He came out the other side onto another platform, but it was red this time instead of blue or green. He walked up to the center of the new platform.

 _The path ahead of you has many roads. Past this point, moving forward is not always certain_

At that, he turned around just in time to see a dark entity emerge from behind him. It was a huge Pureblood Heartless, but it was not one that he had ever seen before. It had a heart shaped hole in its abdomen, and tiny wings on its back. Its glowing yellow eyes were the only thing about its face that could be seen, as the rest was covered by black tendrils.

 _If you cannot defend against the Darkness, your power will be worthless to anyone_

It raised its fist to strike, Omega readied his sword and jumped out of the way as the fist came crashing down to platform. A black vortex opened and Shadows began to materialize out of it. Omega ignored them and slashed at the hand until it withdrew. Omega easily destroyed the Shadows when the Heartless did that, and waited for another attack.

The Heartless knelt down and suddenly struck its hand down onto the station, creating a shockwave. Omega barely managed to jump over it. He looked and noticed that the Heatless had not destroyed the platform, but had opened up another vortex and was pull a large orb of Darkness out of it. Omega ran to the Heartless and started attacking, hoping to stun it or something before it used that. Unfortunately, the attacks didn't slow the Heartless down and it unleashed the orb. The orb broke into smaller ones and Omega tried his best to avoid them, which he succeeded in, but one almost came close to hitting his left arm.

The Heartless leaned back, another orb of darkness appearing in the heart shaped hole in its abdomen. Three blasts of dark energy shot out and flew towards Omega, who managed to jump out of the way. Another volley came flying at him and he jumped out of the again. A third volley flew right at Omega and this time, he had to block it with his sword instead of dodging. The impact nearly knocked him off balance, but he managed to regain his footing as the Heartless raised its fist yet again. It brought the fist down and Omega stumbled as he tried to dodge and fell to the ground, the sword slipped from his hand and fell to the floor of the platform with a clang.

Omega reached out to the place where it had landed and grabbed it. He turned and saw that Shadows were now surrounding him. He slashed out and destroyed them the moment they tried to come closer and regained his footing. He thought over his options as the huge Heartless prepared for another attack. It leaned forward giving Omega a quick opening. He jumped at it right as it was reeling back and stabbed his sword into its head. There was billowing sound as the blade sunk into the Heartless, followed only by an inky blackness that seemed to consume everything around Omega.

 _Your power is slowly awakening. But you must hurry, or everything will be consumed by the Darkness._

* * *

Omega jerked awake and found that he sitting up against the wall near the door to the second district. He yawned a little and closed his eyes again. The dream he just had may have been strange, but it felt very real at the same time. It was strange, he didn't realize he had even been sleeping. But he must have been.

"Of course I find you napping somewhere, again." came Lulu's voice. Omega opened his eyes again and looked at her. She folded her arms in a disapproving manner, a gesture he was quite familiar with after all these years.

"Well, I didn't actually mean to fall asleep." He said. "I just didn't know how tired I was. And I had the strangest dream."

"I'm sure you did." Lulu said. She was now right in front of him and was probably ready to scold him more. Omega yawned again, got up and stretched.

"Oh good, you two are right there." Said another voice. Zell was walking over to them. "The ship's all ready, we can leave early if ya both want."

"I'm fine with that." Omega said wanting to get started as quickly as possible.

"I think we should probably go train a little before setting off." Lulu interjected and the other two stared at her. It was completely like Lulu to want to make sure they were in tip top condition for any fight. That was probably why she was the designated leader and not Omega or Zell. And that was what they both admired about her. "We will not be able to do it on the ship, so doing it now is essential."

"Alright." Omega said, pulling his gunblade out. "Fight to the Third District then?" he asked.

"Of course." Lulu says, also pulling out her Moogle doll.

"Sounds good to me!" Zell nodded, cracking his knuckles as went over and opened the door to the Second District.

All three of them ran through it the moment it was it was open wide enough. Almost at once, Shadow Heartless appeared and jumped toward them, but one vertical slash made them explode into dark vapor. As the Shadows fell three new Heartless, Soldiers, appeared to take their place. They had helmets covering their heads and their bodies were dark, with tan mixed in for their "outfits". One of them spun like a propeller at Omega, only for a burst of Fire from Lulu to hit it square in the chest.

The other two Soldiers jumped in to attack, only to be kicked back by Zell. They hit the ground hard, unlike Zell, who had landed lightly on his feet. He clenched his hands into fists and began to pummel one of the Soldiers until it burst into vapor as well. The other one attempted to attack him as well.

Shadows and Soldiers were the only Heartless they encountered as they fought their way to the Third District. This wasn't anything new, so it didn't concern them much. What they were not expecting was for there to be no Heartless in the Third District as they entered.

"I do not like this." Lulu said as she looked around to the statue of the two dogs in one corner of the square district.

"I would bet that this is when the big Heartless comes to kill us." Zell commented, sounding rather excited about this possibility.

And no sooner had he said that when a bunch of what looked like pieces of an armor fell to the ground in front of them and then assembled into a large body, with a head falling down right where it should be. The armor was predominately white with red, blue and yellow mixed in as well. The Heartless symbol was visible on its torso. This is what they called the Guard Armor and it only appeared on occasion. They had heard rumors of it, but had not actually fought it until today.

"Told you so!" Zell said jumping into a battle stance as the Guard Armor began stomping over to them. The Heartless' arms, still disconnected from the torso, began spinning around it like a tornado of claws. All three of them made sure to stay until they stopped, at which point all three began their attack. Omega and Zell went in for a physical assault, while Lulu waited in the back and fired spells off at the Guard Armor.

The best strategy they found was to take out the arms first. As Omega's gunblade and Zell's fist hit the right arm it attempted to fly out of reach and then strike back at them. It managed to hit them, prompting the both of them to use a potion each. The right arm fell rather quickly and the Guard Armor jumped up and crashed down over by Lulu, knocking her down. She got up quickly and tried moving away from it.

Omega wasn't quite as good at magic as his friend was, but he fired off a Thunder spell at the Heartless, which hit its remaining limbs and its torso, but didn't seem to do much damage to it as it tried punching at Lulu. Zell jumped over to her aid and blocked the punch and counterattacking with his own. Lulu cast another Fire spell that hit the arm right as it was coming at Zell and it exploded.

The legs were next. They proved to be much tougher than the arms, but not by very much. Zell started attacking the right leg while Lulu fired at the left with her magic. Omega performed a powerful slash that hit both legs, but wasn't able to do it a second time for awhile, so he stuck to basic slicing or shooting he was forced to stay at a distance. The legs kicked and slammed against their attackers, but ultimately they fell just like the arms.

And now there was just the torso to deal with. The torso began spinning very fast, knocking the three friends down. Without its limbs this was the only attack available to the Guard Armor, making much easier to take down.

And then the Guard Armor fell, exploded and faded away.

"That was a good exercise run." Zell said stretching a little.

"Yeah, I guess we should get to the Gummi Ship hangers." Omega said.

"Yes, probably the best idea to do." A voice that none of them recognized said from behind them. It sounded formal and businesslike. They turned to see a man with black hair and black suit with a long coat over it. "After all, you've already wasted valuable time as it is."

"Who are you?" Omega asked at once. He was getting a bad feeling from this man, and these feelings usually turned out to be correct.

"It doesn't matter who I am right now." The man said, flashing a smile that Omega liked even less. The man was looking right at him. He had purple eyes, but that only made him seem more strange and unnatural than he already was. "Although truthfully, it doesn't matter if you go to the Gummi Ship hangers either."

"And what does that mean?" Lulu said. She was holding her Moogle doll tight to her chest, readying herself for another fight. Omega did the same thing, gripping the handle of his gunblade.

"It means they'll all be dead by the time you get there." The man continued, with that horrible grin still on his face. "Not like you would have been able to save them even if you had hurried there anyway." He added, flicking his hand around in a flippant manner as he said this, as if he was dismissing some minor problem that was beneath his notice.

"WHAT!?" all three of them said at once.

"Who are you and what do you know about what's happening!?" Zell said.

The man laughed. A cruel and deep laugh that sent chills down the spines of all three of them. "Why tell you when you can just see for yourself?"

"Don't play games with us!" Omega snapped at him, running forward and slicing at the man. But his gunblade didn't hit anything and he almost fell to the ground. He quickly steadied himself and looked behind him. The man was standing behind Zell and Lulu, who jumped away from him.

"If you wish to know more, then you'll have to see for yourself, Chosen wielder of the Keyblade." The man said, fading away again.

"What?" Omega said, lowering his weapon. "Keyblade?"

"Omega, we don't have time." Lulu said. "Let's hurry to the hangers." She was already heading for the door of the Second District. Zell was following her, but Omega stood in the same spot.

Zell looked back at him. "What's wrong?"

Omega was thinking about that strange dream he had earlier and the man's words. He could barely remember the dream, he had dismissed it so casually. Whatever the dream had been about, he had a feeling that somehow they were connected. He could just feel it in his gut. He shook his head and put it aside. Lulu was right; they didn't have time to worry about this. "It doesn't matter. Let's get going!" He said, running after his friends.

Above the District, a small blue creature had heard and seen the entirety of the events that had happened below. Upon hearing the word "Keyblade" and before the three teenagers were even running, he had made up his mind. He crawled over the wall of the Third District, planning on getting in their ship without them noticing him. After all, he knew every shortcut in this city, so it wouldn't be hard.


	3. Garden of Shadows

**Chapter 3: Garden of Shadows**

Trabia Garden, that's what it was really called. Specter was a code name, something that only members of SeeD were supposed to know. Just in case any enemy was likely to intercept any transmissions. This way the students could be trained without worrying about unexpected attacks. There were several other training worlds like this out there, all of them under different codenames.

The world was a dark place; the ground was a purple color, while the trees looked dead. A lingering shadow fell over the place due to clouds that never parted so no stars or any kind of light shown through. It wasn't the nicest world to begin with, what with being mountainous and snowy, but seeing it look like this was unsettling.

As they stepped out onto the dark world, they immediately feared that what the man in black had told them was true. The training base still stood, but it was severely damaged and looked as if it would collapse at any moment. The air had a faint musty smell to it.

"Looks like they were overwhelmed." Lulu said, leaning down to inspect a damaged machine. "A very large attack wave of strong Heartless, no doubt?

"Yeah, looks like it." Zell replied. His voice was heavy, much unlike how he usually was. He scowled and continued speaking. "I don't expect we'll be finding anyone here."

"Probably." Omega said solemnly. "We can't go back without knowing for sure, though." His fist clenched as he walked forward and studied the place closer.

As he did, three Soldier Heartless materialized in front of them, ready for a fight.

"Still here." Omega said, drawing out his gunblade and slicing down on one of the Soldiers, while the other two were taken care of by Zell and Lulu. No more appeared after they had fallen, but Omega didn't put away his weapon.

"Probably will be more, let's get moving." He said, moving forward into the wreckage.

The inside of the complex was just as bad as the outside had suggested, if not more so. There were slash marks on walls, as well a scorch marks and holes. The lighters flickered on and off as they searched through the hallways.

Omega was worried that they may not find anyone, which was a feeling that the others shared. They didn't have to say it for him to know though.

A sudden crash was heard and all three of them pressed up against the wall. They knew better than to attack without knowing what it was. Zell poked his head over and gave the all clear sign. Whatever it was had gone.

"Maybe someone is alive?" Zell whispered to the others.

"Hopefully." Omega said. Lulu as well.

However, they didn't find or hear anything else and the hope that they might quickly fell apart. Despite this, they searched the entire place just in case.

Thirty minutes into the search, Lulu suddenly stopped and folded her arms. A troubled look appeared on her face. Omega turned to face her when he saw this. "Hey, what's wrong?" Zell turned to her as well.

"I was just thinking. We were not the only ones sent here, right?"

"Right." Both Omega and Zell said.

"So why haven't we seen them yet?" Lulu asked them.

There was a very uncomfortable silence, and all that could be heard was the sound of an approaching storm. None of them wanted to say what they were thinking.

"They….they probably just haven't made it yet." Zell said, but with no real conviction in his voice. Omega tried to say something to add to that, but the words didn't come out. He too was hoping that they had indeed not made it to this world. After all, there were no ships here from Traverse Town beside their own.

"I think-", Lulu said, looking from side to side, "that we'd better be careful. That creep in black definitely has something to do with this, and he may be watching."

"Agreed." Omega and Zell said together.

They heard another sound, a loud banging this time. They suddenly tensed up for a moment. A smart movie, as Shadow Heartless suddenly appeared all around them, starting their attack immediately, the three friends barely having time to dodge and block before Soldiers joined in as well.

While Omega slashed at the Heartless with his Gunblade and Zell punched the Heartless, Lulu used her magic both to cause damage and distract the Heartless while they tried moving away from them. This hallway, while big, was still not an ideal place to fight and the quicker they got to a much better area, the quicker they could effectively take care of the Heartless.

However, more Heartless just kept materializing, making it near impossible to actually move out of the way of their assault. The three of them kept fighting, still looking for a way out of the situation.

"Perhaps we should just charge them?" Zell said.

"No, very bad idea at the moment." Omega replied. "There's too many of them, and we'd leave ourselves completely exposed from behind."

"Well, we could use a very good distraction right now!" Lulu said, causing the other two to laugh slightly despite their situation.

A large piece of what looked like part of a wall suddenly flew over their heads and hit the Heartless in front of them, causing all three to suddenly stop what they were doing in surprise. Omega thought he saw a blue creature where the wall had come from, but it disappeared quickly.

"W-what was that?" Zell said, completely surprised by this.

"At this point I wouldn't care if it was pink elephants." Omega said as more Heartless began materializing in front of them. Some of them moved in the direction that the wall had come from.

"Whatever, just move!" Lulu shouted and began to run over the place where the wall had been. Omega and Zell regained their sense as well and quickly followed her.

"Isn't there anyone coming?" Zell called out

"I doubt it!" Omega replied.

"It doesn't matter if we can get to our ship!" Lulu said. "This is a lost cause."

Getting out of the destroyed building turned out to be easy after that. Omega, Lulu and Zell had to deal with Heartless, but not quite as much, since they seemed to be chasing that blue creature Omega thought he had seen. They all ran as fast as they could before finally making it out. They did not come out the way they came, and the only thing they knew was that this was not the same way they had entered.

"How far away are we from the Gummi Ship?" Omega asked, breathing heavily.

"I don't know," Zell said, his hands on his knees, "but it might be on the other side for all we know. We did have to lead them through a quite a chase."

"There's nothing to be done about it." Lulu said, clutching her stomach and breathing just as heavily as her friends. "Going back in there would be a bad idea no matter what."

"You said it." Zell said. After a moment they regained their composure and began running again.

As it turned out, they had ended up on the other side of the building and had a long walk ahead of them. It didn't matter, though, as it was still easier than trying to get through a building full of Heartless. But then again, they still had to deal with the occasional Shadow and Soldier Heartless. Thunder could be heard, with a few bolts of lightning appearing as well.

They soon saw the Gummi Ship right where they had landed just a few minutes later.

"Ah, finally." Zell said, a happy expression appearing his face.

Omega couldn't help himself either. "It's in one piece. The Heartless haven't touched it."

As soon as they tried getting closer to it though, a force field suddenly activated and trapped them. A large black Heartless appeared right in front of them. An image from his dream suddenly appeared in his mind. It was the same kind of Heartless, no doubt about it.

"Oh, you got to be kidding me." Omega growled, any happy feeling he had vanishing. "I hate déjà vu." he added, making Lulu and Zell look at each other confused, but they both shrugged it off.

The Heartless started off by forming a ball of energy in its fist and slamming it into the ground.

"Now! Aim at the head! Give it everything you've got!" Omega said. He jumped onto the fist, and began striking the Heartless' head, Zell following his example with a charged fist of energy, punching it right in the face.

"Move!" Lulu said.

Omega and Zell jumped out of the way as Lulu sent a Fire spell at the Heartless, followed by a Blizzard spell, Thunder Spell and finally an Aero. The beast stumbled slightly, allowing Lulu to throw of one last spell before it burst into dark energy and faded, taking the barrier with it.

Someone began clapping behind them. "Impressive, I didn't expect you to take out that Darkside so quickly." Said a familiar voice. All three of them turned to see the man in black standing on a large piece of broken wall. "But then again, SeeD is supposed to produce excellent fighters, so this isn't all that surprising." He smiled, rather menacingly.

"So you did have something to do with this!" Omega said, raising his Gunblade in gun mode at the mysterious figure, standing his ground firmly. Lulu and Zell got into their own fighting stances, their eyes focused on the man as well. Lulu clutched her Moogle doll tightly to her chest.

"So I did." The man in black said. "In a way, you could say I directly caused this."

"What do you mean?" Zell said anxiously. He clenched his fists tightly.

"Isn't it obvious?" the man said, a horrible smile appearing on his face. "I controlled the Heartless and had them destroy this place. It seems like a simple idea to grasp, personally."

"What!?" Omega said his anger quickly rising the more the man spoke.

"You did this!? What for!?" Lulu said as anger formed on her face as well. She held up her Moogle doll, bracing herself for the next round.

"To get you three here, of course." The man said, his smile not fading in the slightest. "Not too hard, truthfully. But it still got us very far in other areas as well."

"You!" Omega said, leaping for forward and trying to strike the man with his Gunblade in sword mode now. This turned out to be a stupid idea, as the man caught the blade in his hand.

"Tsk tsk, forgotten your training for a moment it seems." The man said in that calm voice. "It's quite a shoddy blade anyway, don't you think? Let me fix that for you!" He added as he, with amazing strength, broke the blade clean in two. Omega barely managed to register any kind of surprise as the man kicked him aside. Zell went to help him up, but Lulu kept her sight on the man as he did.

"Tell me this, why did you want us here?"

"Well, let's just say it's a little experiment. A test of sorts." The man said.

"Very good plan." Lulu said with sarcasm in her voice. The man simply smiled more, as if he actually found her more amusing than anything else. Sweat began to form on the back of her neck as the man approached her, but she didn't back down.

"Got you here, didn't it?" the man replied.

"You're a monster!" Zell shouted.

"What makes you think that?"

"You destroyed an entire world just to get us here!?" Omega said as Zell helped him up. "What else could you be otherwise!?" He stared at the man, hatred flowing through him as he put his Gunblade back in gun mode. He pointed it at the man. "And you don't even feel any remorse for it, do you?"

"It's true, I did attack this world. But, are you not responsible for this as well?"

"How would that click?" Zell snarled.

"What if I told you that this place was only attacked right when you guys got the assignment to come here?" The man said, his voice calm and cold now.

A horrible silence filled the air as his statement sunk it.

"Impossible!" Zell shouted.

"That's utterly absurd!" Lulu said.

"There's no way that could have happened. You couldn't have even known we'd be the ones sent here!" Omega said defiantly, but it felt like something hard had fallen into his stomach. It couldn't be possible, it was stupid to suggest it was. But this feeling…

"And why not?" The man said. "Think about it, if I didn't know, then how could I have told you back in Traverse Town?"

"That's-"

"And even then, you guys didn't even know what was going on here. You just knew an incident might have happened. You didn't know anything, but instead of making sure you could get here fast enough, you three went out hunting monsters for fun. Just like the children you are."

"That's not true, we tried to find out what was going on!" Omega shouted, but the feeling in his stomach was even worse now. He stole a quick glance at his friends. Neither of them had shown whatever they were feeling on their faces, but he knew instantly what they were feeling just from that glance. Zell's fists were clenched and he looked like he was about to be sick. Lulu's knees were shaking slightly, but she still held her ground.

"Talking to one person hardly counts." The man said, his smile now gone. "The fact is, that you didn't take any real initiative to finding out if there was a problem."

"That isn't fair. How were we supposed to know?" Lulu said, her voice trying to stay calm.

"A trained soldier, complaining about fairness?" The man said, chuckling now. "What a ridiculous idea, don't you think? Wake up! You aren't going to save anything if you're not ready to accept the idea that you might screw up."

The words stung, they shouldn't have, but they did. Omega's hand shook as he pointed the Gunblade at the vile person in front of him. Lulu was right, it wasn't a fair assessment, no matter what he might said. From the information they got, they couldn't have known. And even if they did, what would they have accomplished?

"Even if we had… would we have saved anyone?" Omega asked quietly. The man looked at him and then, in the coldest way possible, without a smile on his face, he got his answer.

"No."

Omega's eyes flashed at that. "Then what is your point!?" He growled. "What are you trying to say? Do you even have anything to say? Or are you just trying to mess with us?" The man said nothing, which only made him angrier. "I refuse to believe that. No matter what, we would have saved them."

"That's right!" Lulu said, her knees no longer shaking, her voice no longer trying to hide her distress. "We may not have known and we may not have tried hard enough to find out, but that only means we'll try harder from now."

"We aren't gonna let people like you hurt anyone else." Zell said, punching his knuckles together and then placing his right leg forward.

"That's right, we're gonna make sure to stop you right here and now!" Omega said, the right corner of his mouth going up in a small smile. "We couldn't save them, but we can at least bring their murderer to justice."

'And how will you do that without a weapon?" The man said, his smile returning. "You have no idea what you are getting into, with a broken weapon and already tired out from having to fight so many drones of Heartless. And to top it off," He pointed above them, where a huge ball of darkness was growing even large above them. Flashes of purple lightning was streaking the sky in rapid succession and the wind was blowing ferociously around them. "If you insist on fighting, you will be pulled into the destruction of this world. And what will you have achieved then?"

Omega didn't even blink. "As long as we're together, we manage something!" Omega said as the three of them got into a battle stand and got ready to launch into a new attack-

A bright light suddenly enveloped them for a few brief moments, but it felt much longer than that. And when it cleared, the damaged Gunblade in his hand was gone, replaced instead with a new weapon. But it didn't look so much like a weapon as it did as a giant key! It had a red guard on it that, a sharp blade that looked almost like it was made out of crystal, the end of the blade helped with the key similarities by having teeth that formed a crown like formation. A keychain also dangled off it, of a crystal with a crown around it.

"What the?" Omega said, his eyes no longer on the man in black and instead on this new weapon. Lulu and Zell had dropped their stances and were staring at it as well. But the thing surprised Omega most was that the man in black… was laughing.

"Excellent! My experiment was a success." He said. "You have finally awakened to your power!" He then clicked his fingers and several Heartless materialized between him and the three friends. There were Shadows and Soldier Heartless, but there was another one they hadn't fought here yet. It looked like a bigger, and fatter, version of the Soldier, with huge hands and feet. Despite how it looked, it hit very hard and tended to go berserk when it too much yet. It was known as a Large Body and it wasn't to be taken lightly. Their attention was immediately taken away from the strange weapon and to their immediately predicament. "Show me the power of the Keyblade!"

 _Keyblade?_ There was that word again. In Traverse Town he had called Omega the "Chosen Wielder of the Keyblade". Was that what this weapon was called? He didn't have time to think further on it when two Soldiers jumped right at him. Instinctively, he slashed at them and they both exploded into a black mist while two pink glowing hearts also floated away. Omega had never seen anything like that happen before when he had destroyed a Heartless. He had no time to reflect on this when two Shadows tried attack him as well, but a blast of fire ended that. He looked back and saw that Lulu was holding her hand out, palm facing forward. She smiled at him and he grinned back and nodded in appreciation.

"Omega! Let's take em down and worry about it later!" Zell said as he placed a hand on Omega's shoulder. Omega looked at his friend and nodded. The Large Body was running at them now and Omega held the Keyblade in front of him in a guarding position, which stunned it long enough for Zell to run behind it and kick it in the back of the head. He and Omega then dived out of the way as another blast of fire from Lulu hit it square in the torso. Omega then jumped up and sliced right through the Large Body. The Heartless then exploded into a fine black mist as well, a heart also rising up from where it had been.

The man in black was laughing again now, as well as clapping. "Excellent, excellent!" He said, a large smile on his face. "That was an impressive showing."

"And you're next!" Omega said as Lulu and Zell moved to flank him.

"Am I?" The man said, his smile never faltering as he held up a hand. "Shall we test that too?" A ball made of fire and lightning appeared in his hand and he threw it.

Something huge crashed down in front of them, sending a cloud of dirt their way that they covered their eyes for. When they looked it was a large figure, clad in golden armor. He held up his hand and large barrier appeared before them, blocking the ball of lightning and fire from reaching them.

"This has gone on long enough!" The armored figure said. He had a soft, but slightly deep voice. It was calm, but there was an element of quiet strength behind it.

"It seems you're going to interfere now." The man in black said, that infuriating smile still on his face even now. "It doesn't matter though, I got what I wanted."

A dark portal opened up behind him.

"Hold on!" Omega said. But the man in black had already stepped through and was gone.

"There is no time. We must leave immediately." The figure said. The ground shook horribly again as he said that. "I'll explain soon enough, but you have to leave now." The ground shook violently again and the ground started to crack. There was a flash of light and the figure was gone. Though his voice lingered. "If you want to know what's going on, then you must go now!"

"He's right." Lulu said. "We have to leave."

"Darn it." Omega nearly shouted. "Just what is going on? What just happened right now!?" It didn't make sense, none of this made sense. What was the point? Zell had the same expression on his face that Omega had, only Lulu was able to remain focused.

"It doesn't matter, we'll find out later!" Lulu shouted at the two of them. Omega regained his sense and nodded. The three of them ran straight for the Gummi Ship.

They watched from the cockpit of the Gummi Ship as the Trabia vanished and was consumed by the Darkness. As he watched it go, Omega felt nothing but a cold emptiness inside him.

He didn't know what was going on, but he wasn't going to rest till he got answers to this.

 **Kingdom Hearts The Other Story**

 **-Final Mix-**


	4. Introspection

**Chapter 4:** **Introspection**

Hope had suggested exploring some of the caverns in Traverse Town and Iris was wishing that she had said no to it. They had gone and inspected five already and of them, they had only managed to get into one. And so far it had nothing of interest in it.

"How many caverns and secret areas did you say you had written down?" Iris asked.

"About thirty." Hope replied.

"Thirty? And how do you suggest we go and cover all of them?" Iris retorted, folding her arms together.

"We probably won't tonight, but we'll be happy to have checked out." Hope said as he pulled out a pocket notebook and scribbled something on it. "At least we know that some of them require certain things to get into them."

"Where did you find out about these caverns anyway?" Irvine said, examining some of the scratch marks on the walls.

"I asked around." Hope replied. "It's amazing how easy it is to get someone to tell you something when they aren't being leered at." Irvine simply laughed at that and said nothing.

"And how many are we going through tonight?" Iris asked.

"At least ten more." Hope said as he put his pocket notebook away, then gave them a sly smile. "Come one, it'll be fun. We're bound to hit something interesting."

"Yeah, very fun." Iris said as she walked further into the cavern. "I can't imagine anything worse than this."

* * *

"This must be the place." Zell's voice said, though Omega wasn't really paying attention.

"You okay?" Lulu asked, looking back at him. Omega thought she sounded worried, but her face didn't show it.

"No, I'm fine." Omega said, trying to sound a blank as he could. Sharing his thoughts with them wouldn't help any.

"Thinking about your girlfriend again?" Zell asked, not looking back at him, though Omega could tell he was grinning.

"No." Omega said. "Iris is not my girlfriend."

"Come on, you two aren't hiding anything." Zell said, laughing a little.

Omega snorted before replying, "I don't want to hear that coming from you. Especially since you don't have the guts to ask a girl out yet yourself!" Zell automatically stopped laughing and glared at Omega with supreme annoyance. Omega knew why, but he couldn't bring himself to care. He wasn't in the mood for Zell's teasing at the moment.

"What are you two talking about?" Lulu asked her arms folded impatiently, like she always seemed to. Omega and Zell automatically fell silent. How could she be so smart and yet so dense when it came to that?

"Nothing." Zell and Omega said at the same time. Lulu scoffed.

"So, what are you thinking about, Omega?" Lulu said. "This "Keyblade" thing?

"Yeah, well why wouldn't I? It simply doesn't make sense and no matter how I look at it, it refuses to." He leaned forward, resting his arms on his knees and interlocking his fingers. "It's just so random that it doesn't feel real, but somehow it is." He looked at Lulu. "What are your thoughts?"

"I'm thinking the same as you." Lulu said. She looked away and placed the forefinger of her left hand under her lips. "But without any more information, it's hard to draw conclusions. We were clearly chosen for a reason and set up to be there. For what reason, though?"

"I know." Omega said.

"We should still consider it." Zell said. "Always keep all ideas and theories in mind until proven otherwise, remember?"

They all nodded in agreement. As Zell brought the Gummi Ship down to land, they all were thinking the same thing, that at least they would be getting answers.

* * *

They landed in front of what looked like a castle, but it only looked like one, as it was too small. The proportions were not what a castle looked like, or at least not one that Lulu had ever seen in the books she had read. Several turrets floated in the air all around the main structure. How did it seem to defy gravity like that? There were also large wing designed structures behind the castle, for what purpose she could not say, but it certainly left an impression.

The armored man from before stood in front of the doors to the castle, waiting for them. He looked over them as they approached. As they did, his armor disappeared in a flash of light, and what looked to be an ordinary man stood there. He wore grey robes with gold trim and some bits of armor on his shoulders and chest. He had short black hair that was slicked back and green eyes that had a sharp look to them, as if he was always on alert.

"Hello, Omega, Lulu, Zell." he said in a calm voice. "I appreciate that you've come here. My name is Arcanus Verum."

The three of them bowed in respect. That was always important to do, especially towards someone of great power, and this person was clearly very powerful. "Please, there is no need for that."

"We are honored." Lulu said.

The man nodded. "I'm sure you have many questions, but I must ask you to do something first. Omega, can you summon that Keyblade of yours?"

"Yeah, I suppose I could." Omega said. The weapon had disappeared after they had gotten to their ship, and Omega didn't know how to get it back. But as soon as he thought about it, it appeared in his hand in a flash of light.

"That is no ordinary weapon, as I'm sure you're aware." Arcanus said upon the Keyblade's appearance. "Obviously, you three already figured that out." None of them said anything, though they had given it a great deal of thought. "I, too, wield the Keyblade. You could say that I am a Keyblade Master."

"Keyblade Master?" Omega said in an incredulously tone, but he didn't ask further. "Why did I get this?" Omega held up the Keyblade. "What is this thing?"

"It is a weapon of great power, a weapon that only a chosen individual can use." Arcanus said. "Especially after they prove themselves in some way."

Lulu didn't know what he was referring to, and neither did Zell by the look on his face, but recognition seemed to dawn on Omega's face. He looked at Arcanus with a look somewhere between surprise and understanding.

"You were the voice in that dream!" Omega said. "I thought you were when I heard you, it just seemed impossible that it could be you."

"Yes, I was." Arcanus said. "I have been waiting for a chance to meet you. I wish I could have done so before you encountered that man. And once that man set his sights on you, I couldn't react fast enough to stop him."

"But why? Why give me this Keyblade?" Omega asked, looked away from Arcanus and at the weapon.

"I didn't give it to you." Arcanus said. "You were just meant to have it. As I said, the Keyblade chooses who will wield it and you obviously qualified as someone who can wield it."

Lulu wasn't sure what to think at this, nor did Omega or Zell obviously. This was getting too complicated, but she didn't say anything. Not that she didn't have anything she wanted to ask, but she got the feeling that Arcanus only wanted to speak to Omega.

"Why did you want to meet me?" Omega said, surprising Lulu.

"For some time, but I couldn't approach you until I knew you were ready for the responsibility." Arcanus said. "One can learn how to fight with the Keyblade themselves, but often cannot bring out its true power. I want to help you to do so. But with these Heartless so out of control, I do not have time to train anyone. So I'd like to ask you to use that Keyblade during your missions. You'll at least be able to get experience with it even if you won't be able to use its full power."

"Well, I hardly have a choice in this, do I?" Omega said, his face unreadable as he stared at the Keyblade. It was at this that Lulu finally decided to speak up. She had a question that needed to be answered and they weren't getting to it quick enough.

"Who was that man?" Lulu asked. Arcanus turned to look at her. He stared at her for a moment, as if trying to gauge how she would react when he answered.

"That man." Arcanus said, his voice. "I do not know who he is."

"What?" Zell almost shouted the word out, stepping forward as he did. "You seemed like you did back on Trabia!"

"You misunderstand. I've _met_ him, but I do not know much _about_ him." Arcanus continued, looking at Zell now. "But I don't know his real name. No one does. He always uses an alias. And he uses a particular one most of the time."

"What is it?" Omega asked, looking up again.

"I'm not sure you're ready to know yet." Arcanus said in that infuriatingly calm voice. "You shouldn't be going after him right now. You aren't ready."

All three of them were about to protest, but decided not to. It wouldn't have done any good to do so anyway.

"Omega, Lulu, Zell, I apologize that it had to go this way, but that man obviously wanted this to happen in this way." Arcanus said. "I don't know what he is planning, but I do not think that you should try and go after him. However, I know you three will. It will be your mission once you report it. There is no stopping it."

All three of them nodded. There was no way to keep this secret; they would have to report it.

"Do you mind if we stay here for awhile." Zell said.

"I don't mind." Arcanus said and he gave a small smile. "You're always welcome here." He turned and left them. Lulu sighed and looked at her friends. Zell looked very annoyed by this and she couldn't blame him at all. Even though they had gotten some answers, it had only raised more questions. She looked at Omega, but he wasn't look at either of them, nor at Arcanus' retreating figure.

Omega was staring at the Keyblade. His face was still as unreadable as it had been since Trabia. Zell had clearly noticed this too.

"Omega." Zell said, placing his hand on his friends shoulder.

"Sorry." Omega said calmly, walking away from his friends without even looking at them.

Lulu watched as he walked away, though he didn't follow Arcanus or go back to their Gummi Ship. She was tempted to follow, but she couldn't think of anything to say.

"What do you think?" Lulu asked Zell.

"I don't know. I don't know what to think at all." He said. "But he's right, we have to report in." Lulu nodded and they both set off for the Gummi Ship.

* * *

"Hm, quite impressive." Maleficent said as she walked around the Library of Hollow Bastion. She often came here when she tired of the others, but today she was with her greatest ally. And perhaps her most dangerous one.

"Thank you very much." Came the reply. A black haired man wearing black clothing to match sat in a chair next to table, a book in front of him. But he wasn't reading it, Maleficent knew, he just wrote in it. She never looked, not like she needed to. She knew he would never let her look at it.

"But, perhaps there would have been an easier way?" Maleficent said.

"I'm afraid in our time frame; I didn't have much of a choice." The man in black said. Maleficent didn't know his name, he never said. But he was a valuable ally, even if he refused to tell her. But this also kept her on guard regarding this man. She knew he was capable of anything. "I couldn't risk having Omega and Sora meet. And since Sora landed in Traverse Town, so it was even more vital that Omega not be there."

"How did you know that Sora would appear in Traverse Town?" Maleficent asked him, though he only smiled.

"You could say I saw it in a vision." He said, though he placed his hand on the book, a gesture that he clearly wished for her to notice him do.

"I see." Maleficent said and decided that didn't need more than that. At this moment, that is. "You seem to have outdone yourself this time."

The man chuckled at that. "Riku seems to be taking it all well, considering." He asked.

"Yes, I can imagine he'll work with us just fine." Maleficent replied, smiling a little. "Especially if I offer to help him find his friends."

The man in black chuckled. "It shouldn't be long now."

"Quite right." Maleficent said. She turned and walked down the stairs. "Soon Kingdom Hearts will be ours. You have been most helpful with this, Nero."

The man in black, "Nero", smiled as she left; a smile that didn't bode well for Maleficent. "My dear Maleficent. You have no idea."

* * *

Iris collapsed onto the couch the moment they had gotten by to the apartment. Hope had been right that it would get more interesting, if one found relentless Heartless attacks interesting.

"Alright, I admit that it might have been bad timing." Hope said as he sat down on the other side, his notebook out again. "Still, we did get a lot of valuable data."

"It's true we did, but I'm not looking forward to doing it again." Iris replied as she opened up a bottle of water and took long drink. "Where'd Irvine go?"

"Went to take a shower no doubt."

"Sounds about right." Iris said as she picked up the remote and turned on the tiny TV. There wasn't much on, but she just wanted something on to take her mind off of things. It had been a long and rough day, the Heartless more active then they usually were. She wanted to see if anyone was gonna mention anything about it, though it seemed no one had found anything out yet.

"I'm sure we'll find out tomorrow once everything calms down." Hope said as he wrote down a few more things before putting it down. At that moment, there was a buzzing noise.

"What was that? The phone?" Iris asked.

"Probably." he pulled a specialized phone out of his pocket and flipped it open. "This is Hope. Anything to note?" Hope looked at her and mouthed the name "Aki Ross" at her.

"Yeah? What's she have to say?" Iris was about to ask, but the look on Hope's face had distracted her. He looked absolutely horrified.

"T-that can't be right!" he stammered. "Are you sure?"

Iris looked at him, her chest suddenly feeling tight as she did. "What is it?" she asked.

Hope turned his head towards her and what he said made her heart drop into her,

"Trabia has been destroyed."

* * *

"I see." Instructor Trepe said over the computer in the Gummi Ship. "Did you manage to find out who this man was?"

"No ma'am." Lulu said. "We haven't been able to."

Instructor Trepe sighed audibly. "Well, there is nothing to it. I'll report this and we'll try to figure it out. Here are your new orders though. Track down this man in black and make sure you manage to apprehend him."

"I understand, ma'am." Lulu said.

"Good luck." Instructor Trepe said and she signed off. Lulu turned off the communicator and leaned back in the chair she was sitting in.

"Yeah, easier said than done." Zell said, sitting in the pilot's seat, his hand resting behind his head. "Some first mission, right?"

"I know." Lulu said, not bothering to argue with him. "I don't think we'll be able to, truthfully." Zell looked over at her when she said that.

"Why?"

Lulu hesitated, but went on. "I got the feeling he was toying with us." She said. "He had this whole thing planned and wiped out a whole world just to get us to go there. Just who is he?"

Zell shrugged. "He's bad news, no matter how you look at it. We can't let him go around and do as he pleases." He stood up. "I think we should get some rest. No point starting now."

"You're right." Lulu replied. "You go ahead; I'm going to wait for Omega to get back."

* * *

Omega sat on a chair that overlooked the area around the castle. Omega could see trees and rivers, as well as mountains. But he also noticed that there seemed to be towns, or at least buildings, though he couldn't see anyone. Or perhaps there weren't any, and he was just imagining these buildings.

He just sat there in silence, trying to analyze everything that had happened to them since Traverse Town. The dream, the man in black, Trabia's destruction and, of course, the Keyblade.

The Keyblade. A powerful weapon that had appeared before him. A weapon that the man in black knew that he had this weapon.

Why him?

Surely there was someone else that was more worthy of such a weapon. But the Keyblade had appeared before him.

He sighed. Perhaps he was thinking too much about this a little too much. He was tired and it was growing dark out.

"I guess I should go back." Omega said. He was certain that Lulu would scold him if he stayed out too late, especially in a strange world. But suddenly, he heard something approaching from behind. Suddenly alert, Omega jumped out of the chair and turned to face it; the Keyblade automatically appeared in his hand, which was definitely useful, if nothing else. But there wasn't anything there that needed the Keyblade.

What stood in front of him was a small blue creature. It was only about three feet tall, had long ears and a stubby tail. It had black eyes that were looking right up at him. It was also carrying something around its neck, but he couldn't tell what it was.

Omega's first thought was that he had never seen such a creature before. But then he remembered that he had thought he had seen something small and blue running away from that man in Traverse Town and at The World of Shadows as well. Now that he thought about it, it made sense. Finally, something that made sense in this whole crazy day!

But now wasn't the time for that.

"Are you the one who helped us before?" Omega asked the creature. It nodded. "Did you sneak aboard our ship to do so?" The creature nodded again. "Okay, why?"

The creature frowned a little and suddenly began talking, although Omega couldn't understand a single thing it was saying. Now that he heard it talking, he thought it sounded male.

"Uh?" was about all he could say as the creature stopped talking. "I couldn't catch that." Omega replied honestly. The creature's ears dropped and he rubbed his chin, possibly trying to think of a better way to tell Omega whatever he had been trying to.

Finally, he seemed to settle on something. Slowly, he began talking again, though in English this time. It was strained and difficult for him. Obviously he wasn't very skilled in the language. "My….my name….Stitch…"

Omega nodded. "Hello, Stitch. I'm Omega." He told him. "Now, is there something I can help you with?"

Stitch nodded. "Looking."

"For what?"

"Terra…Aqua….Ven….." He replied. "Do…..you….know…..where they…are?"

Omega shook his head, "No, I don't. I don't even know _who_ they are." He said honestly. Stitch's made a noise that Omega interpreted as disappointed and crushed. He had never met anyone by those names, and he was curious to know why Stitch thought he might. "Why are you looking for them?"

"For…help…." Stitch said. He lifted the object around his neck (although he didn't remove it) for Omega to see. Omega leaned in to look closer, and now noticed that it was some kind of good luck charm made out of different pieces of metal. "…friends…..circle….."

Omega wasn't sure he understood. It was clear that whoever Terra, Aqua and Ven were, Stitch considered them very important friends and needed help from them. He just didn't know how to find them. But that still left one thing.

"Why do you think I can find them?" Omega asked Stitch. The answer came almost immediately and was something he wasn't expecting.

"Keyblade." Stitch said.

It was as if Omega had been hit over the head with a bat! These three people were also Keyblade wielders! And Stitch thought he knew where they were because he now had a Keyblade.

But Omega had not had the Keyblade when he had left Traverse Town. There was no way Stitch could have-

Of course, the man in black! He had known before Omega had, he had said it right to his face! Stitch had heard that, and automatically zeroed in on Omega because of that, most likely under the impression that Omega had already had the Keyblade. Stitch had taken a chance, and it had turned out for nothing. Stitch sat on the ground, looking dejected and miserable

"I'm sorry." Omega said. He couldn't stand to see anyone sad. "But I don't think I can help you with finding Terra, Aqua or Ven." Stitch didn't say anything and neither did Omega. He was filled with a desire to help, now that he had an idea of what was going on. "But, maybe I can help you anyway. I can travel to other worlds obviously; maybe I could help you look for your friends and….."

"Not just…..Terra…..Aqua…Ven…..Lilo too…" Stitch said. "Need…..find…..Lilo…"

"Is Lilo a friend of yours as well?" Omega asked him. Stitch nodded, looking as if he might start crying. It was a strange but sad sight. Obviously this was a touchy subject, but he needed to know more. "What happened?" But somehow he knew the answer. He didn't know why, and when he heard it, he still had been able to hear it but not register it.

"Alp…" Stitch started, but looked scared to use the name "That…man in black….came…..took Lilo and rest of family….." Stitch told Omega. "Did…..horrible things to Stitch too….." He quickly became quiet after that, and Omega couldn't say anything either. He was at a loss for words.

The man in black, at first Omega tried to say it was just a coincidence. But Stitch had said "That man in black" not "A man in black" and Stitch had been there when he had appeared in Traverse Town. That was how Stitch knew about Omega's Keyblade after all! Not only that, but Stitch was about to say his name, Omega was sure of it!

"When did this happen?"

Stitch sniffed, looking even more on the verge of tears. "….eight years..." He said. Omega didn't ask anymore, nor could he. He wasn't going to make Stitch tell him anymore. Whatever happened was so horrible that Stitch was obviously still affected by it. Omega curled his fist in anger, but he uncurled in and looked down at the ground.

What could he do?

Lulu heard Omega walk in, but didn't turn her head to see. "Took you long enough! You should rest up; we'll be heading out once all of us….." She turned as she said that and stopped abruptly. Omega could understand why. He was carrying Stitch on his back, a difficult task since Stitch was much heavier than he looked pretty heavy; simply because he knew that she wouldn't react well to him any other way. There was a short silence, followed by, "What is that?"

"This is Stitch." Omega said simply, letting Stitch jump down on one of the empty chairs. "He stowed away when we left Traverse Town and helped us at the World of Shadows."

Lulu looked calm, but Omega could feel her anger start to rise. "And why are you telling me this?" she managed to say.

"Because, I sort of agreed to help him." Omega said.

That did it. Lulu had only begun shouting at him when Zell walked back in.

"Geez, what's with all the yelling?" He asked, but stopped when he saw Stitch. Luckily, he didn't react as badly as Lulu. "Who is this?"

"Stitch." Stitch said, not waiting for Omega to speak for him. "Omega help Stitch."

"It talks." Lulu said. Her calm demeanor was now completely gone, something that did not usually happen, so Omega must have really angered her this time. "Of course it talks." Stitch stuck his tongue out at Lulu in response. Obviously neither of them liked the other. Lulu turned back to Omega. "I want an explanation now."

"Omega, I really don't understand either." Zell said more calmly.

"Well, if you give me a minute, I'll explain." Omega told them.


	5. Suspicion

Chapter 5: Suspicion

"So, let me go through this yet again." Zell said, for what was probably the tenth time he had brought it up in the past few days since they had left Arcanus' world. "Along with searching for that creep in black, we're also going to be looking for these people called Terra, Aqua and Ven…"

"Who, it should be said again; nobody has any idea of where they are." Lulu added in snidely. Zell tried to ignore Lulu when she was like that, which was almost always when they did something she didn't like.

"Yeah, and on the way, we might find your new friend's family?" Zell finished.

"Pretty much." Omega replied nonchalantly, and the creature called Stitch, who was sitting in the chair right next to Omega, made a noise of approval.

"Well, it's not a terrible idea, but…."

"It just happens to be impossible." Lulu said.

"No, it's just highly unlikely to happen anytime soon." Omega said. "There is a difference."

"Barely." Lulu said, eying Stitch with distaste, which Stitch returned by growling at her. "And why did we have to bring him?"

"Well, I suppose it's because I don't know what they look like." Omega said flatly. "So having someone along who does would do wonders." Lulu scoffed at that. "And besides, I have a feeling that he would have just snuck on anyway."

"That's true, we didn't know he was aboard since Traverse Town till just a few hours ago." Zell said. "'sides, it's not as if he can't pull his own weight around. He might be useful."

"Definitely useful!" Stitch said, followed by something in his own language that was probably the same thing. "Stitch very useful!"

Omega held out his hands in a 'there you go' kind of gesture. "Well, if there's nothing else, I'm going to go rest up before we go to this first world." He got up to leave without even looking at either of them. Stitch looked at both of them or glared at in Lulu's case before following after him. Lulu watched them leave, then planted herself in the empty seat that Omega had been sitting and rubbed her forehead.

"This is the worst." she said through her teeth.

"I don't know, after seeing what he was capable of earlier, I think he'll at least carry his own weight." Zell said.

"That's not what I'm concerned about." Lulu replied as she crossed her arms.

"Really? 'cuz it seems like it." Zell replied in confused sort of voice. This response got him a very nasty looking glare from Lulu. The kind that screamed how much she wished to set him on fire. "Uhhhh, I mean, what is it you are concerned with?"

"This is too convenient." Lulu said. "It doesn't make sense that he would show up just when Omega gets that Keyblade. And he happens to know some others who have it? How do we know he's not some sort of spy?"

"We don't." Zell simply said. "But that's just a bigger reason to keep an eye on him, isn't it?"

Zell looked at her for a few seconds before he turned back to piloting, leaving Lulu to her own thoughts.

Iris had never thought the day would come, but it finally had!

The day they would leave Traverse Town! Something she had been hoping for quite some time, almost for as long as they had been in this town even. It was a nice and peaceful town, Heartless attacks notwithstanding, but Iris had always wanted to see more of the worlds. It was a big reason for her deciding to join SeeD, after all!

Traverse Town was a strange world in many ways. By its nature as a safe haven, new areas and buildings would just appear whenever large amounts of people did. Districts and alleys would show up one day to accommodate the refugees. And along with them, new caverns and secrets that had yet to be explored. In a way, Iris would miss exploring this world and seeing what new things would appear. But she had always hoped to travel through the stars in search of other worlds more.

And now that it was here… she couldn't help but feel more anxious than excited.

After the destruction of Trabia, everything had been a large mess. While not the largest of the worlds that SeeD were stationed on, it was still a major location and with hundreds of students and teachers gone, it was a large loss for the already struggling organization.

"I'm sure you weren't expecting to be sent off like this any time soon, but given the current situation." Instructor Quistis Trepe said. Despite her professional posture and tone, she looked tired. Iris could sympathize, but knew it wouldn't be appropriate to point it out.

"We understand, Instructor." Hope replied. "We've got everything together yesterday."

"Which was very efficient." Instructor Trepe said. "I will be heading back to Balamb after you leave. I will be taking on a new class there. You will need to operate without instructors for once."

The three of them said nothing for a moment before Irvine spoke up. "Oh, I don't think that will be an issue at all as long I'm around."

"Very humble of you." Instructor Trepe retorted. "Still, I do expect constant reports. And since you have everything under control, I expect them from you, Irvine." Iris and Hope only barely managed to hold in their giggles as Irvine looked like he was about to fall on his face. The Instructor looked like she was about to start laughing too, but was trying to remain professional. "Anyway, dismissed."

Iris, Hope and Irvine saluted and made to leave when Iris stopped. "You guys go on ahead, I'd like to ask the Instructor something." she said.

"What more do you need to know?" Hope asked her.

"Nothing you need to worry about." Iris replied as she turned back to follow after their instructor. Though it was only after they had gone that she spoke up.

"Instructor, do you have a moment?"

The older woman looked back at Iris with an amused expression on her face. "There really isn't a need for formalities, Iris. I'm not a particularly good instructor, I feel."

"I'm sorry, but I don't believe that." Iris said.

"That's nice of you to say, but I'm afraid that they don't agree." Trepe replied.

"But you just said-" Iris started to say, but Trepe quickly interrupted her.

"It's a complicated issue, Iris." Trepe said and then as if to change the subject quickly, added, "You had a question?"

Iris hesitated. She wanted to know what Trepe had meant, but she knew that trying to press the issue would probably only land her in some kind of trouble. "I just wanted to know if there was anything else we needed to know before heading out."

Trepe looked at her carefully. "Everything you need to know you've been informed of."

Iris felt her jaw tighten, nodded and then saluted her. "Yes, Instructor."

"Just Quistis is fine." Was the reply Trepe gave, but Iris just smiled and shook her head. She had too much respect for the Instructor to do so… and a lot of misgivings.

"So, what did Trepe have to say?" Hope asked as Iris rejoined them. They had been waiting around the corner, just out of earshot so as to not arouse suspicion from their instructor.

"She definitely is holding back on us." Iris noted dryly. Then she added in a low tone, "But I think she was trying to let me in on it discreetly."

"That would make sense." Hope nodded as he put his hand to his mouth. "To my knowledge, we're the only SeeD members left on this world, but if she's being cautious."

"Hold on." Irivine chimed in as he looked back. "This isn't the best place to talk."

Iris and Hope nodded in agreement.

They had chosen an alley to talk in and after checking that it was abandoned, continued their conversations.

"So Instructor Trepe might be facing some kind of dismissal?" Hope said. "But why?"

"I'm not sure, but I think she might have done something that the higher ups didn't like." Iris said.

"This doesn't exactly mean it has anything to do with Trabia." Irvine commented. He was leaning against the wall with his arms folded. "It could be something else."

"It's a little too convenient that it's coming not so soon after, though." Hope said. "It might not be due to the incident, but it's still connected."

"No one really knows what happened though." Irvine retorted. "We just know that Heartless attacked the world."

"That's not quite accurate, though." Hope said and he looked a little darker now.

"What do you mean?" Iris asked him.

"Well, I managed to get into some records." Hope said. "There were at least seven squads sent there. And six of them have gone missing."

"What?" Irvine said, standing up straight now. "Trepe never mentioned that."

"Exactly." Hope said bitterly. "Because the one squad that didn't was sent there by Trepe. And as far as we know, they have not made contact with anyone but her."

"But we know that part already." Iris said. "That's why we're being sent after them, right?"

"Maybe. But there's something just strange about it." Hope said. "Omega, Lulu and Zell are supposed to be the top cadets, right?"

"Yeah? And?"

"Well, then why are we being sent to find them?" Hope asked. "Why have they fallen off the radar?"

"I'm sure they have good reason." Iris said. "It's just something that might happen."

"Yeah, but it still doesn't quite make sense." Hope said as he looked disturbed by something. "Maybe I'm reaching, but there is something going on. I just don't know what."

"Well, there's no use talking about it now." Irvine said as he looked to the side.

"Because we can just ask them when we find 'em?" Iris asked.

"That and we have company." Irvine said as he pulled out his gun. Iris and Hope looked where he was and saw that several Heartless had begun to form.

"I suppose it can't be helped." Iris said as she materialized a rapier. "Just gonna have to deal with this as we go along."

"Try not to hit Iris, Irvine." Hope said as he pulled out a boomerang.

"Who do you take me for?" Irvine grinned as he opened fire on a Shadow Heartless that had jumped closer to them, vaporizing it instantly.

"A dork?" Iris said as she blinked at him and jumped at a couple of Soldier Heartless that had shown up as well, all while ignoring Irvine's indignant retort. They were clanking around in a disorganized fashion but attempted to kick and claw at her when she moved closer. But she was too fast for them, stabbing one right in the chest four times in quick succession before doing a wide arch that scattered them. As she recovered her stance, bolts of lightning struck them. Her attack had left them open for Hope's follow up, which soon left nothing but black mist.

"Watch out." Irvine said as he aimed overhead. What looked like three blue Soldier Heartless with wings and goggles on their faces lunged forward, though Irvine managed to shoot them quickly out of the sky and crashing to the ground, where several quick slashes from Iris finished them off.

"Nice one." Irvine said as he walked over and did an offhand hi-five with Iris.

"Not too bad yourself." Iris said as she looked around for any other attacking Heartless.

Except she couldn't see any. They had all been taken out.

"Alright, good work everyone." Irvine said as their weapons disappeared. But Iris felt uneasy.

"Didn't that seem… odd?" Iris asked.

"Why would it? Heartless attacks are frequent?" Irvine replied. Hope looked at her with uncertainty.

"You okay, Iris?" Hope asked.

Iris didn't immediately respond. Irvine was right, this wasn't that uncommon these days. In fact, for a while they had had even more Heartless attacks than usual. But that had been only a small group of them. And there had actually been less and less attacks the past few days. Not since…

Iris shook her head. "It's nothing." she said, smiling a bit in an attempt to convince Hope and Irvine and herself that this was true. "Just my overactive imagination." But she wasn't totally convinced by this herself. And she couldn't help but shake this feeling that they were being watched.


End file.
